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Lil Wayne thought he would have something of a home-court advantage upon taking the stage at Riverbend Music Center on Friday night.

But it was his Canadian counterpart who walked away victorious from the Cincinnati round of the Drake vs. Lil Wayne tour.

The two hip-hop superstars have fashioned their joint tour as a rap battle. Fans serve as judges, casting votes via a phone app. Through Friday, the sixth night of the tour, the score is an even 3-to-3.

That seems about right. Both guys put on entertaining performances for a sellout crowd, and neither was clearly that much better than the other. It comes down to personal preferences: Do you like Drake's melodrama and introspection or Wayne's carefree bad boy persona?

Their contrasting styles make for a strong partnership, one that shouldn't be limited to live performances and guest appearances on each other's recordings. Drake and Lil Wayne have a good thing going; the rap-battle idea is clever for a tour, and the show's structure kept things very entertaining. They took turns on stage, performing about 10 or 15 minutes at a time, enough to do two or three songs and sling a good-natured insult at the opponent on the way in or out.

The show began with the app vote to choose who went first. Lil Wayne won, and he opened with "Blunt Blowin'," "John" and "We Be Steady Mobbin'."

The New Orleans native then did some campaigning that tugged at fans' heartstrings.

"Cincinnati, I don't know if you know, but I have a connection with y'all," he said. "My very first son is from Cincinnati, so I'm like family."

Drake started his portion of the night with "Draft Day," "We Made It" and "The Language" and had a counterpoint locked and loaded.

"You're trying to get the crowd on your side, talking about you got a baby mama from here," he said. "I'm having an after-party here. I can get a baby mama from Cincinnati tonight, too."

The Toronto rapper pulled the biggest stunt of the show, riding above the crowd on a cable lift that stretched from the stage to the back of the amphitheater. Wayne wasn't impressed with such fancy production maneuvers. He didn't like Drake's emotionally charged performance of "All Me," either.

"I'm too high for all that (stuff)," Weezy shrugged.

But, in the end, it was clear that the dissing and the battle were theatrical devices. After the vote was tallied declaring Drake the winner, the pair came together for a collaborative block of songs that included "The Motto" and the single "Believe Me," which will appear on Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter V," set for an October release.